Rail commuters face a 3.5 per cent season ticket hike

An annual season ticket from Reading to London, including the tube, will cost more than £5,000

Anual season ticket fares are set to rise by 3.5 per cent from January 2015.

Commuters will face a 3.5 per cent rise in the cost of their rail season tickets to London from January.

The increase is calculated by July's Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate, announced this morning as 2.5 per cent, plus one per cent.

Rail passengers travelling between Reading and London Paddington are set to pay an extra £143.08 for their season ticket, giving a total of £4,231.08.

Tickets from Reading with London Underground zones 1-6 included would go up to £5,025.96.

With a 3.5 per cent increase, commuters travelling between Wokingham and London Waterloo will see their annual season ticket increase by £122.36 to £3,618.36.

While passengers in Bracknell will pay an extra £118.72 for a total annual fare of £3,510.72.

Rail season ticket holders suffered a 3.2 per cent fare increase in January this year and the price went up by 4.2 per cent in January 2013.

Most season ticket prices are regulated by the government but train operators can raise fares by two per cent above inflation as long as the overall average stays at RPI plus one per cent, so some fares could increase by 4.5 per cent.

The Campaign for Better Transport has said wages had risen by just 6.9 per cent since the coalition came into power in 2010 while rail fares had risen by 24 per cent.

The government says the money raised from the fare increase would be re-invested into the rail infrastructure.